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We currently have a custom 404 page set up for our clients, but the developer has it returning a HTTP 200 for the status code. Big no, no. I'm having that fixed right now.

My question is, currently, the custom 404 page is only returned for urls with the extension .aspx:

• For example : ilovepizza.com/pepperni.aspx would return a 404 page because the correct page is ilovepizza.com/pepperoni.aspx

Any other format of URL without the extension (example ilovepizza.com/thumbtack) does not trigger the custom 404 page we've created, but it does trigger a server error with a 404 HTTP status page. I want to change this so this type of error also triggers the custom 404 page because it's more user-friendly and would return them to the website.

My question: Is there any benefit to making the /thumbtack errors return the custom 404 page but with a 400 Bad Request HTTP Status?

Kind of a novice here in those aspects, but does the 400 Bad Request status indicate that it was a user mistake and not a mistake created on the website?

Other suggestions?

Based on this answer from Google, http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=146750 you can't use the product schema if a customer has to make the purchase offline or at another retailer.

Does anyone know why they set it up this way? Has anyone ever tried to use product markup on a website when the product is purchased offline?

Also, is there another solution or another markup that would apply?

Thanks!

We use the "See more" script on our sites, and from what I understand, at least from other Mozzers, this is an okay practice. http://www.seomoz.org/q/using-more-info-javascript-toggledisplay-tag-for-more-info-text

We also use the rel="prev" and rel="next" to some success, but I can't comment on how that's functioning canonical-wise, because IT WAS DROPPED from our latest redesign and is going to be added to our client's website in the latest release. Oye.

I'd love to hear how this works out for you. There are some really great Mozzers on here with loads of experience about canonical tags and duplicate page issues. Can't wait to see what they have to contribute.

Hi Anthony,

Has the business claimed its Local+ page? Perhaps a verified listing would help. Also some downstream local citations could possibly give it a boost. Scott also has a great point about making your link profile look more natural too, even though it's completely justified to have lots of links on the company name.

-EEE3

Hi Michael,

Not sure if this helps you out at all, but I found this about the canonicals and SEOMoz crawl report in a previous Q http://mz.cm/11erRj6:

As far as the SEOmoz crawl reports go, not that setting a canonical won't stop these pages being reported as duplicate content.

From the help:

"Keep in mind that that canonicals will stop the pages from ranking against each other, but they will still show up as duplicate content from a UI perspective, so we will still count them as duplicate."

I have the same issues on my accounts. I'm focusing on making the pages content as unique as possible, or using the "noindex, follow" meta tags to see if that makes a difference.

I know you may have a lot of pages on your website, but perhaps writing short descriptions on your products would help. It might be worthwhile, but completely understandable that it may be a huge undertaking if you have hundreds or thousands of pages.

I agree with James. I also use Woothemes and their FAQs, theme docs and support sites are great. I haven't yet used their WooCommerce yet. James have you?

Hi Mozzers,

I hope I'm not asking in the wrong area, but I'll be at the SXSW Interactive this weekend, and was wondering if any other Mozzers were going to be there?

It would be great to meet up if so.

Also, if there's a better community spot for me to post questions like this in the future, please let me know.

Thanks!

Thanks Paul. Maybe now that Analytics will be showing change history that will also save time too.

I like your idea about an external document. That seems more approachable than having our clients who are not so comfortable make their annotations in Google Analytics.

It's definitely not a helluva lot to throw at me, but instead is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for! Thank you so much Paul for such a thorough answer. This is definitely the direction I've been moving toward.

The most difficult thing with my clients is there are so many hands in the pot, and they often don't let us know what's going on with their external marketing efforts. Additionally, some of our clients have multiple marketing agencies making changes to their websites, and there are multiple admins on the Analytics.

Holding the client responsible for the updates is a great idea, and it would just take a lot more prodding on our end.

This discussion was spurred by a client that saw a major decline in non-paid search traffic (Google only) over the last quarter of 2012. There were no penalties in GWT, so this leads me to believe as you said it was an algo update. I'm going to use your tips to try and further isolate the affected areas.

I really appreciate the time you took to answer my question. Thanks again.

One more: http://www.forrester.com

I'd love a better resource for this one also.

I know you're looking for something specific, but here are some worthwhile resources you could try if you haven't already:

• http://blog.kissmetrics.com
• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33742/12-Revealing-Charts-to-Help-You-Benchmark-Your-Business-Blogging-Performance-NEW-DATA.aspx
• http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/studies/?cat=measure-and-analyze
• http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Future-of-Big-Data/Overview.aspx
• Google+ - follow people like Avinash Kaushik which will then lead you to a slew of other Analytics brains as well. They often post interesting stats they come across.

Some big research firms also have Internet Roundtables, for example, like the one JD Power & Associates has for the automotive industry.

You might also see if any research papers have been published by doing a scholarly search since programs such as Masters of Science in Analytics are growing.

You could also check out some of the Google Analytics Certified Partners' blogs.

Not knowing what sector you're in, you could be right in that there hasn't been a study specifically catering to it, but maybe you'd be able to pull in some applicable data from the resources above.

Makes a little more sense. I'll get it eventually

Thanks Megan!

Hi Megan,

Thank you for the response, but I still don't know if that answers my question.

Does this mean in my particular case that I can navigate through the full 889 reported links only in Open Site Explorer, but I cannot export that full 889 (well below the 100,000 links) to CSV? If I export to CSV then I only see 695?

Can you speak a little more about the difference between viewing external links in OSE vs. exporting links to CSV?

Thanks!

Noob question. I'm using Open Site Explorer to hunt down some external links for a website. In the attached image (post-pressing the filter button), it says I have 889 external links, but after I've downloaded the CSV, I only get 695 links.

Why the difference in number? And if I'm doing something wrong, how do I make sure I'm getting the full amount of external links to my client's website?

Thanks!

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And this is definitely what I was talking about when I said you get great advice on the forums.

EGOL and Salmon brought something to the table that I haven't thought about, and I'm definitely going to use in the future. That's why I love using this forum. I've learned so much by interacting on here, and that's how you advance.

Don't give up on the Q&A orion68, and always keep an open mind.

Hi Dan,

If you're comfortable with it, post your client's website and sitemap link here for people to take a look at.

Hi Nick,

You can try private messaging some Mozzers who have demonstrated interest in this sort of thing in previous threads.

Or, if you're feeling completely open, try posting your websites URL in your thread and any associated links to external content you've created (Does the site have a blog? Are you submitting guest blogs?)

Other than that, there are paid consulting services you could try, but there are many willing and helpful people in this Q&A forum who will always give you great advice!

Thanks Joel!

To determine whether the profile links are indexed, do a site search using your profile link on Twellow or Manta. I picked a random business on Manta "Romana Cake House"

Attached is a screenshot of the site search which shows that the page is in Google's index.

The second screenshot shows a brand search (history disabled, incognito) for "Romana Cake House" and it shows the Manta listing on the first page.

Any of these listings will most certainly strengthen your NAP (name, address, phone number) and help with local search results for your business.

Do these profile links pass value?

I ran the profile link through open site explorer and that page does have page authority and the link to the company's website on that page DOESN'T contain a "no follow" tag, so the profile link is saying, in a way, "I vouch for this business"

You should also see if you get any referral traffic from these sites in your Web Analytics tools, but so far, with Manta at least it looks like the right move, especially if it can get you a SERP on the front page for your business name that could push down another, not so nice listing about your business.

Hope that helps.

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Thanks Joel. And just to confirm, it will pull in historical data too even if I disconnect it and reconnect it?

I have no answer for you but I'm very interested in this subject! I'll be following this thread to see if anything new crops up to your answer. Great question!

I would add 301 redirects as a best practice even if they don't have any juice to pass on to the new links. Just make sure they are being redirected to a similar relevant page or a page that makes sense.

Also, the way you're searching is not going to be how a consumer searches, so to see if these older pages are currently hindering your keyword strategy (I'm assuming you might be worried that two pages would be jockeying for one term?), perform a search as your customer would using the keyword only.

If you see these old pages in the search results and they're ranking higher than your newly optimized pages (which would better serve the customer), then you might have an issue only as it relates to conversion and bounce rate.

I would strongly recommend you 301 the old pages.

Thanks TommyTan.

I am definitely referring to the search engines.

I do use Google Webmaster Tools, and haven't seen any email notifications from GWT regarding any spammy link profiles, etc.

I'm more concerned with finding out if it's just normal fluctuation in keyword ranking and traffic, or if there is something else going on.

Sometimes there's so many factors that all could be playing a role outside of any penalties, it would be great to find a guide to help you diagnose if it's just seasonal traffic, keyword rank fluctuation or something more serious.

Has anyone come across any great guides to pair with client data to help you determine if their website has been penalized?

I'm also not talking about an obvious drop in traffic/rankings, but I want to know if there's a guide out there for detecting the subtleties that may be found in a client's website data. One that also helps you take into account all the different variables that may not be related to the engines.

Thanks!

Also, a link is still a link. Even if it's a no follow link on an external website, it can still help your website from a user experience. If website B has a lot of dedicated visitors and traffic, they could follow your link back to your website and become fans of yours. Just something else to keep in mind.

Hi littleshobo,

Rel=author seems like it would be more beneficial to you in your personal guest-blogging than, as you had said, to attach your face to your clients' blog posts. You do want them to be attached to someone at the business. A different story might be if you are writing content that indirectly benefits the client: Say you guest blog on an external website about something you're interested in and you link to your client's blog as an example of your work. In that case, you'd want your face to be attached to that blog.

I would try to keep the client's blog attached to the client.

I am going through the same thing right now. What we are implementing is the rel=publisher tag on our clients' websites, using the clients' Google+ Profile ID. Though it's not being recognized right now by Google, we hope in the future Google will begin using it and show the dealership's logo in the rich snippets.

The other option for you is to find a person at the company who wouldn't mind their face being the face of the company, and you could "ghostwrite" for that person. You could then use the rel=author tag for that person and explain to them how they would need to add the corresponding link to his or her Google+ profile. The only issue with this is trying to find someone who would be at the company for awhile (avoid turnover) and also someone who would enjoy having their face plastered across Google. Some higher levels in the company might be okay with this.

Also, check out this link about using rel=publisher and rel=author from Mike Blumenthal's blog. http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/02/03/google-local-rel-publisher-or-relauthor-you-should-do-both/

Hope this helps!

Thanks Takeshi!

I want to know if it's possible to add a canonical tag to a URL that points to a URL under a different folder. Content is just about the same.

Here's an example

(fake urls and product, but structure and parameters are similar to my client's website):

domain.com/toy-ducks-results.aspx?color=Purple&model=Elvis

domain.com/toy-ducks-details.aspx?color=Purple&model=Elvis&style=Sparkly

Let's say that my purple Elvis ducks are really popular. Is there any harm in putting a rel=canonical on the Sparkly Elvis ducks page to the purple Elvis ducks page?

Even though they are two different folders?

/toy-ducks-results and /toy-ducks-details

So, in effect, the preferred folder is /toy-ducks-results

Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks SanketPatel. Do you have a pay-for account with ahrefs.com or are you using the free version? Do you like it better than opensiteexplorer?

Thanks SankelPatel! I'll check them out. So do you not use any location + keyword on the clients' websites?

Is there any harm in using javascript so a user can "toggle" open or closed additional text on a website?

For example, if a user wants to read more about something, they can click on "More Info" and the text would then appear.

Google is able to read the text, because I chose a random 8 word section of the text within the More Info and pasted it into a Google Search and the website showed up in search results.

Just wondering if using this technique would have any negative impact.

Here's what the code would look like: 
<a <span="">title</a><a <span="">="Show Tables" href="</a><a class=" " target="_blank">javascript:toggleDisplay('table1')</a>">More Info

style="display: none;" id="table1"> this is where the text would be, and from this section was where I grabbed text to search with in google.

Then in the footer, here is the script needed so the more info will work:

I am by no means an expert in coding/html/javascript.

Thanks!

Kind of funny, but I just realized I piggybacked something onto your thread, but this is a discussion after all ; )

Great reminder Francisco!

I'd also add a request to NOT piggyback a different issue to someone else's Q&A, even if you think it's tangentially related.

It's fine if you want to comment "Me too" if you're having the exact same issue, but if you spin the question off into a different direction, you're less likely to receive an answer. (If you do that, there's a good chance your question is going to be at the bottom of the thread and might not be seen if someone's already answered the question above your added question.)

Prepare yourselves. This is a long question.

With the rise of schema and Google Local+, do you think Google will now have enough data about where a business is located, so that when someone searches for, a keyword such as "Atlanta Hyundai dealers" a business in Atlanta that's website:

• has been properly marked up with schema (or microdata for business location)
• has claimed its Google Local+
• has done enough downstream work in Local Search listings for its NAP (name, address, phone number)

will no longer have to incorporate variations of "Atlanta Hyundai dealers" in the text on the website? Could they just write enough great content about how they're a Hyundai dealership without the abuse of the Atlanta portion?

Or if they're in Boston and they're a dentist or lawyer, could the content be just about the services they provided without so much emphasis tied to location?

I'm talking about removing the location of the business from the text in all places other than the schema markup or the contact page on the website. Maybe still keep a main location in the title tags or meta description if it would benefit the customer.

I work in an industry where location + keywords has reached such a point of saturation, that it makes the text on the website read very poorly, and I'd like to learn more about alternate methods to keep the text more pure, read better and still achieve the same success when it comes to local search.

Also, I haven't seen other sites penalized for all the location stuffing on their websites, which is bizarre because it reads so spammy you can't recognize where the geotargeted keywords end and where the regular text begins.

I've been working gradually in this general direction (more emphasis on NAP, researching schema, and vastly improving the content on clients' websites so it's not so heavy with geo-targeted keywords).

I also ask because though the niche I work in is still pretty hell-bent on using geo-targeted keywords, whenever I check Analytics, the majority of traffic is branded and geo-targeted keywords make up only a small fraction of traffic.

Any thoughts? What are other people doing in this regard?

Okay, so this may not be the answer you're looking for, but maybe another tactic would better serve this hotel?

What about a marketing campaign something like "So off the grid even Google can't find it"? There are lots of adventurous people on this planet--and though the true cause behind the lack of street name, landline phone or zip code may be due to poor infrastructure and not because it's in the middle of a jungle reached only by canoe--you have an audience there.

As far as tackling the local issue, Mike Blumenthal and David Mihm might have some resources for you on their websites and blogs.

http://blumenthals.com/blog/

http://www.davidmihm.com/blog/

Best of luck to you.

P.S. A fake phone number is not a great idea. If you do go that route, please make sure someone familiar with the hotel is able to answer it. I heard at Local U stories of Google calling phone numbers to check on the location and make sure they were accurate.

Hi purpleindigo:

Reddit? If it's a service for unlocking phones, maybe you'll find something there?

One of the guest blogging services we use that we like is Ann Smarty's My Guest Blog. Just be careful to choose carefully. There are some spammy things in there but you can sort through and find some good ones. Cathy Stucker also has an email list for guest blogging that's good.

Anyway, best of luck to you.

A few ideas:

1. Do you have an email subscriber list? I'm a big fan of many companies who've sent me requests to give my information for awesome guides by submitting my information. HubSpot and Optify are two great examples of companies who are doing this right. It's not necessarily links, but you do get customer leads and customer leads bring sales. I've also shared links from some of these guides on G+ and Twitter, because I've found them so useful.

2. SlideShare - Another great place to get the word out about your guide.

3. Twitter/FollowerWonk - I've heard many times of excellent ways to search Twitter (using FollowerWonk, for example) to find qualified people specializing in your topic. Check out Will Reynolds presentation at MozCon2012 http://www.slideshare.net/wilreynolds/do-real-company-stuff-mozcon-2012-version

4. Search/Guest Blogging - This SEOMoz post by  Pratik Dholakiya is filled with tons of techniques to get guest blogs and attention. Check out the "Guest Posting Query List" http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-advanced-guest-blogging

Hope that helps.

I haven't tried this method out, but it might be what you're looking for http://www.businesshut.com/spam/google-analytics-referrer-spam/

If not there, check out http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!forum/analytics - There might be an easier solution there.

Good luck!

I've been going through my monthly reports, and noticed something odd in the SEO Moz report section showing the visits from organic (non-paid) search engine results.

When checking this data against the same data in Google Analytics, everything for the most part seems to line up with the exception of two dates:

Jan 09 and Jan 23 of the SEO Moz report show 0 visits, but Analytics shows I do have visits on those days.

Any ideas why this would be in the report or what I'm missing?

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One additional thing you could do for the client is to seek out any external links to the alternate domains and see if you can update them so they now link to the main domain.

As far as a timeframe, I usually see a time period of two to three months for things to restore back to normal. The earliest changes I've seen have been a month.

As long as the new merge is, like you said, for usability reasons also, I imagine it's a great move for people using the website and it was a good thing to do.

You may want to beef up the content on the main domain for those terms that dropped in rankings, or try to do some guest blogging related to those keywords so you'll get links back to the main domain.

Dr. Pete has a really helpful article on this, particularly his tools to fix the issues of duplicate content: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/duplicate-content-in-a-post-panda-world

We've tried Guest Blog It but have not had much success either. I'd recommend you try:

• My Guest Blog http://myblogguest.com/
• http://www.bloggerlinkup.com/

Either way, whichever you use, be sure you look over each opportunity carefully. This free eBook has a really good guide to check out each guest blogging opportunity (or linkback). http://www.analyticsseo.com/optimising-post-penguin-world-ebook

By the way, I'm not affiliated with any of these recommendations. Just comes from personal experience.

Good luck to you!

These pages are extremely light on the content, and they have barely any search traffic, if any.

A user reaches these pages by clicking on a call-to-action button (contact us, or get a quote, or make an offer). The resulting URL would pass through dynamic url parameters from the previous page, but the content on the page itself consists only of a form to fill out and one paragraph.

Though that one paragraph would have different text depending on which call-to-action button they clicked on, it's entirely the same in structure and code, with the exception of the parameter-laced URL.

We're still keeping the call-to-action buttons, but our developers are changing the form structure so there are not hundreds of these pages that are duplicate content. It's going to be a vast improvement for the user.

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I'll definitely use them in the future if we decide to re-purpose pages on our websites.

We're about to delete a bunch of unnecessary pages, largely responsible for our duplicate content woes. These are low traffic pages, and they were NEVER a good user experience.

I just want to check and make sure I'll be setting up the proper way to account for their absence:

1. Set up 301's for all of them so they point to related pages

2. Remove them from the Sitemap

3. Also remove any internal links that previously pointed at them.

Is there anything else I'm missing here? Or any additional moves I can make that I'm not thinking about?

Thanks!